In the seconds before the questions were thrown his way Monday, Jonas Valanciunas greeted the media with a Borat impersonation that was spot-on enough to stick the dated movie’s theme song in your head the rest of your day.
Valanciunas shows this very personable side in passing almost daily as he’s leaving the Raptors’ practice court, or if he’s in the locker room before a game. When the camera lights go on and the microphones go to his face, though, he stiffens up somewhat. The jokes and small talk disappear and the answers get a little more run of the mill, though that can be on the question-askers sometimes as much as it is the player.